Mirkovo (, ) is a village in western

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, part of

Sofia Province Sofia Province () is a province (''oblast'') of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia remains the seat of its administration. The province borders on the provinces of Pernik, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, Paz ...

. It is the administrative centre of

Mirkovo Municipality Mirkovo (, ) is a village in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is the administrative centre of Mirkovo Municipality, which lies in the central eastern part of Sofia Province. The village is located in the eastern part of the Zlatitsa� ...

, which lies in the central eastern part of Sofia Province. The village is located in the eastern part of the

Zlatitsa–Pirdop Valley Zlatitsa–Pirdop Valley () is situated in central western Bulgaria and is the fifth of the eleven Sub-Balkan valleys in direction west–east. It is named after the two towns that lie within, Zlatitsa and Pirdop. The valley is an important hub o ...

, 63 kilometres east of the capital

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, at the southern foot of the 1,787-metre Etropolska Baba Peak in the

Etropole Etropole (, ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located close to the northern slopes of the Balkan Mountains in the valley of the Iskar River, from Sofia. History The area was first ...

part of the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...

. The surrounding area has been inhabited since the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

, with the

Thracians The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared betwee ...

and

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

populating it in Antiquity and the

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

and

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic peoples, Turkic Nomad, semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region between the 5th and 7th centu ...

in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, when it was part of the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh of Bulgaria, Asparuh, moved south to the northe ...

and

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1422. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

. The village itself, however, was first mentioned in Ottoman registers in 1430 and 1751 as ''Mirkuva''; the name is thought to originate from the South Slavic personal name ''Mirko'' with the placename suffix -ovo. A monastical school was established in 1825, during the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

, and the locals took an active part in the

Liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishme ...

, participating in

hajduk A hajduk (, plural of ) is a type of Irregular military, irregular infantry found in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries, especially from Hajdú–Bihar Count ...

bands and assisting the Russian forces as ''

opalchentsi Opalchentsi () were Bulgarian voluntary army units, who took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The people in these units were called ''opalchenets-pobornik'' (опълченец-поборник) roughly meaning "folk-" or "regiment- ...

'' in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. The village

Bulgarian Orthodox The Bulgarian Orthodox Church (), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria (), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox jurisdiction based in Bulgaria. It is the first medieval recognised patriarchate outside the Pentarchy and the oldest Slavic Orthod ...

church of Saint Greatmartyr Demetrius was built in 1834 by the masters Minko and Delo. The village of Mirkovo bears traces of ancient settlements. In the "Mogila" area, 3.5 km south of Mirkovo, remains of a Neolithic settlement have been discovered. In the areas of "Deninata Plocha," "Ortova," "Usta," "Yalamovoto Tepe," and "Hriskovata Plocha," remnants of Thracian settlements have been found. The "Aramudere" area within the village's territory conceals a tomb from Roman times. Near the village, in the "Taushanitsa" locality, an early Christian sanctuary is located. Valuable medieval monuments have also been uncovered near Mirkovo, including the church of "St. George" from the 12th-13th century, as well as remnants of a fortress guarding the pass to Etropole in the "Gradishte" area. The earliest mentions of the village of Mirkovo (or Mirkova) are found in Ottoman records from 1430 and 1751. In 1825, during the Bulgarian Revival, a kiln school was established in the village. Residents of Mirkovo participated in the squads of Panayot Hitov, Hristo Botev, and Georgi Benkovski. Thirty-eight people from Mirkovo joined the Russo-Turkish Liberation War. In 1878, Ivan Radov Maslev opened the first brewery in Bulgaria in the village, and in 1883, the factory was relocated to Sofia on "Solni Pazar." In 1884, the "Mirkovo Scientific Society 'Iskra'" was founded, and in 1908, the "Prosveta" community center was established. In 1909, they merged into the "Hristo Botev" community center. In 1890, Todor Vlaykov and Todor Yonchev founded the first Bulgarian cooperative in Mirkovo – the Mirkovo Credit, Savings, and Agricultural Society "Oralo"; in 1914, the "Pchela" credit cooperative was established as the successor to "Oralo."

Gallery

Image:MirkovoCentre_church_6-Rainov-IFB.JPG, Church of Saint Greatmartyr Demetrius (1834) Image:MirkovoCentre_hotel_14-Rainov-IFB.JPG, Hotel in the village centre Image:Mirkovo-Waterfall_3-Rainov-IFB.JPG, Small waterfall Image:Mirkovo-Village_9-Rainov-IFB.JPG, Old

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

farm buildings

External links

Mirkovo municipality page at Sofia Province website
Villages in Sofia Province {{Sofia-geo-stub